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Thread: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

  1. #21
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Just too many tire tracks might tempt some kids to snoop around with spray paint.
    Even out in that part of the world you've got brats like that. More often, however,
    it's some cheapo-beer-guzzlin rednecks that decide the rock art is ideal for target practice. That's something I've seen quite a bit of, bullet holes on petroglyphs and pictographs. Plus the usual assortment of carved names, dates, and initials. The last
    thing anyone needs is this kind of place ending up on a feature travel magazine article
    or a guidebook.

  2. #22

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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    gentleman: would you go further as closing all the NPs to prevent so call "irresponsible" people from damaging the parks? and only allow a few privileged one to enjoy the beauty?

    btw, this topic has been debated many times on many forums.

  3. #23
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Calling attention to something fragile is just looking for trouble. There's something
    special about "discovering" something yourself within solitude and without a lot of
    modern detritus laying around, even if someone else has been there before. You don't
    get that kind of experience holding onto a metal handrail following a herd up a paved
    trail in a Natl Park. Fortunately, there are Parks which are largely wilderness, and even
    a heavily trampled place like Yosemite has significant patches of backcountry where
    solitude is the norm. I took a rainy day hike in the early Spring one time to what is
    arguably the most impressive set of petroglyphs in California. No one was around in
    many miles. I carried my 8x10 a few miles to the site and it was a totally different
    kind of experience than having other people around. And it allowed me to take my
    time photographing. Unfortunately, as spectacular as the color and textures were,
    the biggest logistical problem was simply finding some section of the rock art that
    hadn't been vandalized back in the 1800's when the site was first discovered. Some
    of their names were carved clear across the faces of the petroglyphs just like billboards. They wanted everyone to know they were here first. Then more names followed. Probably 90% of the particular rock art was defaced before the turn of the century. Nothing would have been left if the site had not become isolated and relatively forgotten since then.

  4. #24

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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Quote Originally Posted by LF4Fun View Post
    gentleman: would you go further as closing all the NPs to prevent so call "irresponsible" people from damaging the parks? and only allow a few privileged one to enjoy the beauty?
    The oldest living single organism in the world is a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California. That tree is named Methuselah. The Forest Service will not disclose the exact location of the tree out of the fear that idiot yahoos will destroy it, just for yuks. I see pretty much an exact parallel with the petroglygh in question.

    I don't see it as a "close the whole park for the privileged" issue. It is more protecting an irreplaceable historical gem, because yahoos will go to it and destroy it if the location is readily available.

    There is a reason the Mona Lisa is behind thick glass in the Louve. A certain small segment of the population loves to destroy valuable things. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with creating a privileged class, as you seem to infer with your national park analogy.

  5. #25
    Photographer, Machinist, etc. Jeffrey Sipress's Avatar
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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Very good, Harley. I concur.

  6. #26

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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Quote Originally Posted by LF4Fun View Post
    gentleman: would you go further as closing all the NPs to prevent so call "irresponsible" people from damaging the parks? and only allow a few privileged one to enjoy the beauty?

    btw, this topic has been debated many times on many forums.
    Well, I said more than once that some people should not be allowed access to national parks. There are more idiots than one would think who have no respect at all for nature and behave like complete morons. Then there are those who just drive through the parks without ever getting out of their damn cars - just hold that little P&S camera out the window and take pics - and I am not talking about handicapped people!

    Sorry for the rant.
    Juergen

  7. #27
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Harley - there are lots of folks who know exactly where the Methuselah tree is. In fact, one relatively famous outdoor photographer cut a limb off it to put on his fireplace mantle. Allegedly some even older bristlecones have now been identified in the desert mtns of Utah. Same kind of problem I've seen with some pristine canyons
    in the Southwest; real quiet until the BLM posted an official "wilderness" sign at the
    mouth of the canyon and it subsequently got trampled. Debates are fine in this society. What isn't fine is when the outcome of the debate is essentially irreversible,
    like damming Glen Canyon or putting oil infrastructure in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.
    Once you smash the Hope Diamond, it's never going to be the same, regardless of the
    cumulative carats after the act.

  8. #28

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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    There are very few secret places any more. Technology is telling everyone where everything is, at least if you know about camera metadata

    --Darin

  9. #29
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Darin - that's why I scout out all those fantastic photo spots ahead of a trip and then
    go the opposite direction and find secret spots of my own; and there are plenty
    of them. Ironically, sometimes you just have to be a half mile off some popular trail or
    known scenic wonder to find something even more remarkable without even a footprint
    in sight anywhere. Let the herds have their cliches.

  10. #30

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    Re: "Sky Rock" Petroglyph

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    Darin - that's why I scout out all those fantastic photo spots ahead of a trip and then
    go the opposite direction and find secret spots of my own; and there are plenty
    of them. Ironically, sometimes you just have to be a half mile off some popular trail or
    known scenic wonder to find something even more remarkable without even a footprint
    in sight anywhere. Let the herds have their cliches.
    "Siri, track Drew. Identify locations where he takes pictures. Post results on the LFF board."



    --Darin

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